If you’re looking for a balance between capability and bulkiness, a 13-inch laptop is an ideal option. That said, not all 13-inch laptops are created equal. In our opinion, one of the best laptops available today is the Apple MacBook Air M3, but there are plenty of other options depending on the features you want and the price you're willing to pay.
Most of the top 13-inch laptops are focused on balancing power and portability, but you can find everything from budget laptops to high-end gaming laptops with a 13-inch display. Here are the best 13-inch laptops you should be looking at today.
The MacBook Air M3 is the perfect laptop for all but the staunchest Windows diehard, with a massive update that brings it more in line with the standard MacBook design. It's lightweight, incredibly thin, super powerful, and stacked with the quality-of-life features that Macs are known for. From exceptional battery life to a large touchpad and one of the best laptop keyboards, the MacBook Air M3 comes with everything the typical laptop user need to succeed.
The latest MacBook Air features Apple's ARM-based M3 chip that's both fast and extremely efficient. It's so power-efficient that it doesn't even need a fan. It stays cool simply by passing heat through the aluminum body, so you can keep working without distracting anyone.
For portability, the MacBook Air M2 is 0.44 inches thick, and it only weighs 2.7 pounds. The port selection isn't great with just two Thunderbolt ports, but you can easily expand the selection with a Thunderbolt 3 dock. The new design brings back the breakaway MagSafe 3 power connection.
The MacBook Air M3 is a seriously impressive laptop for anyone looking for a highly portable, very powerful machine. In some ways, it's even better than the MacBook Pro. One caveat: the new M4 chipset will be arriving in the MacBook Air early in 2025, so if you're not in a huge hurry to buy, that might be something to wait for.
If you want as much laptop for as little money possible, we suggest the Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 -- also known as the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5. The price fluctuates, but it's quite old at this point, so you can find it for just a few hundreds bucks at this point. Despite its age, it’s a flexible 2-in-1 laptop that still has enough performance for your everyday tasks.
This can be particularly hard to find in this price range, where the combination of lower specs and older parts can mean power or speed issues for the unwary. But Lenovo has managed to build the Chromebook Flex 5 for performance, and the snappy Chrome OS loading helps make sure there are no annoying wait times as you work.
When we reviewed it, our unit had a four-core/eight-thread AMD Ryzen 3 5300 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a whopping 512GB of SSD storage. That's enough performance to make the lightweight Chrome OS fly through demanding workflows. The model that's available today is a bit lower-powered, with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, but the Core i3-10110U is plenty fast for a Chromebook.
Fortunately, you still get the 13.3-inch 1080p screen, Wi-Fi 6 compatibility, and loads of battery life.
When it comes to affordable 13-inch laptops, it remains one of the very best.
The ProArt PX13 is a super-small laptop that still packs a ton of power. It's not the lightest 13-inch laptop at 3.04 pounds or the thinnest at 0.70 inches, but that's okay. It's the price you pay to pack so much power inside.
The high-end configuration comes with an AMD Ryzen 9 AI HX 370, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and an amazing fast Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. That's fast enough to churn through demanding video editing tasks and even run some games. Regardless of the configuration, the machines come with a 13.3-inch 16:10 2.8K display (2880 x 1800) OLED display with incredibly dynamic colors and inky black.
Battery life isn't the best, but it's still surpringly good for such a powerful laptop. There isn't another 13-inch machine that can lay claim to being so incredibly fast, and in fact, only the Asus's own ROG Flow X13 gives it a run for its money.
The Surface Laptop 7th Edition is one of the larger 13-inch laptops out there, with its 13.8-inch screen -- in fact, it straddles the line between 13-inch and 14-inch. The unique feature of its display, however, is the 3:2 aspect ratio screen. While every other option on this list uses a 16:10 or 16:9 shape, Microsoft has always stuck to the taller 3:2 for its Surface devices, and I love the decision. You get more vertical screen real estate, allowing you to see things like more of a webpage or extra rows in a spreadsheet.
It just feels great to use, one of the main reason why it became our reviewer's "daily carry" in 2024, despite all the other laptops that came out this year.
It's also a spectacular laptop in its own right, sporting the efficient Snapdragon X chips, which provide fast performance and long-lasting battery life. In fact, it's really the only laptop on this list that can keep up with the M3 MacBook Air in that regard. It does have a couple of one-ups over the MacBook Air too, namely its 120Hz refresh rate, better port selection, and, again, that taller display. It might be a stretch to call it a 13-inch laptop, but it's certainly the best MacBook Air alternative you can buy.
There's no question some people lost their interest in the XPS line recently. The XPS 13, XPS 14, and XPS 16 have all adopted a pretty stark and controversial design -- a futuristic look that might have been a bit ahead of its time. The LED capacitive touch buttons certainly rubbed people the wrong way, our reviewer included, who felt like only got in the way of the typing experience. The invisible haptic feedback trackpad is a bit more serviceable, and it certainly looks impressive.
We'd never convince someone to buy a laptop like the XPS 13 who's questioning the decision. The lack of a headphone jack alone is a turn-off all on its own. But for those drawn to the look of this laptop, the latest model (9350) makes up for some of the more controversial elements with some excellent battery life, thanks to Intel's latest Core Ultra Series 2 onboard. That goes a long way toward making this extremely premium device feels like it's worth the money.
So while it's not for everyone, those that are attracted to this design will find plenty to love, and the performance and battery life back it up.
Although there are a ton of Chromebooks on the market, there's really just one that stands out for having excellent performance, a quality build, and a lovely design. That laptop is the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook, which represents the ultimate premium Chromebook and the one you want if you don't want any Windows or MacBook envy.
Yes, the Dragonfly Pro Chromebook is aimed at the business market, with up to a 12th-gen Intel Core i7-1265U with vPro for outstanding Chrome OS Enterprise support. However, the laptop is great for any high-end Chrome OS users, with up to 32GB of RAM and 512GB of PCIe SSD storage to power through the most demanding workflows. The 13.5-inch 3:2 WXUGA+ (2,256 x 1,504) IPS display is excellent as well.
But the icing on the cake is the presence of some advanced and, in some cases, innovative features. First, there's Thunderbolt 4 support, which is unusual on Chromebook. The vPro support is a first, as is the haptic touchpad that works as well as the MacBook Force Touch version. Finally, the 5MP webcam provides a superior videoconferencing experience. You'll pay for all this power and the breadth of capabilities, but it's worth it.
Yes, it definitely does. The change in size can make things like working in applications side by side much more fluid. The overall size of the laptop also makes a difference in portability. Sliding a 15-inch laptop into a backpack isn't always possible, and neither is trying to use it in cramped locations like a small coffee shop table or on an airplane.
Perhaps more importantly, though, there are significant differences in configuration options between 13-inch and 15-inch laptops. Take the Dell XPS 13 and XPS 15, for example. The XPS 13 maxes out at a four-core processor with integrated graphics, while the XPS 15 can now include up to a 14-core processor with a discrete RTX 3050 Ti graphics card. The extra space in the chassis allows for these more powerful components, meaning they'll provide a significant boost in performance.
A 13-inch laptop may not seem as visually immersive as a larger screen can, but if your GPU can support your favorite game, then a 13-inch laptop would prove to be an excellent gaming device. While your situational awareness is undoubtedly improved with bigger displays, the screen may not fully support the game. It would be best if you double-checked your larger laptop’s specs; The processor, RAM, SSD, and GPU all need to be able to comfortably support the parameters required for your game.
Spending money on a laptop is always a big commitment, whatever your budget. Our laptop buying guide will help you choose the right device.
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from graphics cards to processors to PC cases, Jacob also writes the ReSpec column and newsletter that covers the intersection of PC hardware and gaming. If it's something you can plug into a gaming PC, there's a good chance Jacob has used it.
Although Jacob is interested in just about anything in or around a PC, he's currently reporting on graphics cards, PC game optimization, and gaming monitors. At Digital Trends, he's dug deep on the untold origins of the Steam Deck, uncovered the truth behind poor PC port optimization, and broke the story on Microsoft's Bing Chat going off the rails.
Before joining Digital Trends, Jacob contributed to Business Insider, Forbes, and PC Invasion, among various other outlets. Jacob has been a guest on TWiT and NBC, and his work has been cited in Fox News, Futurism, and Business Insider.
As if tinkering with the latest PC hardware wasn't enough, Jacob spends most of his free time living the PC gamer life he writes about so frequently. That includes playing the latest games, but also poking around on his PC to see what he can break, just to see how it works. When he gets a moment to step outside and "touch grass," Jacob enjoys tabletop games, wandering the shops of St. Louis, and forcing his lazy Corgi onto walks.
If it can be streamed, voice-activated, made better with an app, or beaten by mashing buttons, Tyler's into it. When he's not making the Internet a better place with the latest tech news, Tyler is working in the eco and investment world, writing fiction, or waiting for hiking weather.
Mark Coppock is a Freelance Writer at Digital Trends covering primarily laptop and other computing technologies. He has significant experience in Windows, macOS, laptop hardware, and other technologies around mobile computing. He has been writing about technology since 2015, and has been a professional in the technology industry since 1995.
Mark graduated from Indiana University in 1991 with a degree in Marketing, which along with an interesting in PCs parlayed into a 25-year career in sales, marketing, and sales engineering across a number of companies in Indianapolis, Indiana and Chicago, Illinois. After stepping away from marketing, Mark entered into writing with a gig at the now-defunct Winbeta.org site. He has been writing for Digital Trends since 2016, and has reviewed almost 300 laptops. You can find many of his reviews in various Digital Trends best-of lists, such as the best laptops and best laptop 2-in-1s.
Generally speaking, Mark has been a geek since MS-DOS gave way to Windows and the PalmPilot was a thing. He’s translated his love for technology into a long career aimed at helping people use technology to enhance their lives.
When he’s not writing, you’ll find him in Southern California reading and watching science fiction, taking photos with his family, and obsessing over Indiana University basketball.
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